It's Coastal flooding at Elon

Published: Saturday, September 28, 2013 at 11:30 PM.

Coastal Carolina was back in the end zone 2½ minutes after that Bennett touchdown, with Ross lofting a 20-yard touchdown pass to Niccolo Mastromatteo to retake the lead at 25-21.

“What a wild first half. Everyone was scoring,” Swepson said.

“We just needed more energy coming out of halftime,” Brown said. “We came out flat. We usually start off flat in the first half and click in the second half.”

■ EXTRA POINTS: … A high snap ruined the point-after kick following Coastal Carolina’s second touchdown and the Chanticleers spent parts of the first half scrambling to recoup that lost point. They attempted two-point conversions that failed after their next two touchdowns. … Brown, the Elon slot receiver, made the most of his two carries out of the backfield. He raced 55 yards on Elon’s first snap of the game and gained 37 yards on another handoff. Brown stayed in at halftime due to cramping and received IV fluids. He missed Elon’s first two possessions of the second half before returning. … Elon finished with 231 rushing yards, a week after supplying 193 yards on the ground against Appalachian State. Those mark Elon’s most productive back-to-back rushing performances since September 2008. … Meanwhile, Quinn went 15 of 27 passing for 94 yards. That’s the lowest passing total for an Elon starting quarterback since November 2005. … Duprey’s touchdown reception that gave Elon a 28-25 lead marked the first catch of his college career. He’s a sophomore. … Swepson said Taliaferro, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Coastal Carolina running back, reminded him of Andre Brown, the former North Carolina State standout who plays for the New York Giants. “Just a man-child out there playing against boys,” Swepson said. … Elon’s field goal misery worsened. Trailing 39-28 late in the third quarter, true freshman John Gallagher missed from 34 yards. Elon is 1-for-8 on field goals this season. … Ross, the Coastal Carolina quarterback, added 85 rushing yards and mostly scrambled out of trouble. … This was Elon’s last non-league game of the season. The Phoenix’s final seven games are Southern Conference matchups.

ELON — By the end, the feeling for the Elon football team had become helpless and frustrating and yet simple to explain.

“We just couldn’t stop them on defense. We couldn’t stop their offense,” coach Jason Swepson said. “We had no answers. They were bigger, stronger, faster. We couldn’t do anything.”

Conversely, Coastal Carolina did as it pleased, rolling up school-record offensive numbers that transformed a competitive, back-and-forth first half into 53-28 rout of the Phoenix on Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.

Elon led this non-conference game 28-25 late in the second quarter, after linebacker Jonathan Spain stretched high for an interception and quarterback Mike Quinn cashed in on that turnover, tossing a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Zach Duprey.

At that moment, with both offenses clicking and Elon having delivered four touchdowns on its first six possessions, it looked like a high-scoring, can-you-top-this duel was in the works, and perhaps this afternoon would be decided by which team had the ball last.

“We thought it was going to be a shootout,” Elon receiver Kierre Brown said.

Then it all stopped for the Phoenix (1-4), which fizzled throughout a scoreless second half that generated just four first downs.

And Coastal Carolina (5-0), ranked 12th in the Football Championship Subdivision, continued firing at will, eventually accumulating 652 total yards, the most ever at the school. Lorenzo Taliaferro’s 205 rushing yards — the second-best individual performance in Chanticleers’ history — and three touchdowns served as a driving force.

“It hurts. You feel like you didn’t help your offense out at all,” Elon safety Julius Moore said. “The offense put up 28 points. That’s a good number of points.”

That vaulted Coastal Carolina ahead 32-28 — simultaneously demoralizing Elon in the process — and the Chanticleers poured it on from there, dominating the second half.

DeMario Bennett leaped over Elon cornerback Ed Burns in the end zone and hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass from Ross on Coastal Carolina’s first possession after halftime. The score was set up by Ross’ 34-yard completion to Bennett two plays earlier on a third-and-7.

Five seconds into the fourth quarter, De’Angelo Henderson’s 5-yard touchdown run capped an 80-yard drive and created breakaway separation for the Chanticleers, who led 46-28.

“Too many big plays, missed tackles, missed assignments,” Elon linebacker Corey Mitchell said. “Basically, all that caught up to us. We just didn’t execute. It’s frustrating, because we know we can do our job.”

Swepson pointed to Coastal Carolina’s touchdown in the final minute of the first half that flipped Elon’s 28-25 lead into a 32-28 deficit. The Chanticleers took possession with 1:31 remaining before halftime and ripped off 76 yards to score in a matter of 63 seconds.

That turn of events left some Elon players wearing lifeless expressions during halftime, Swepson said.

“Seeing their faces, it kind of looked like the game was over,” he said. “We tried to do everything as coaches to create some energy, get the hype going, because it was still a ballgame, obviously.

“But we came out in the second half and just couldn’t do anything right. (The Chanticleers) caught the fire. Their belief was getting stronger and ours was dwindling.”

The game began with a festival of offensive efficiency, the first four possessions resulting in two scores by each team. Taliaferro reached the end zone from 24 yards and 1 yard out. Quinn hit tight end Doug Warrick and Rasaun Rorie with touchdown passes of 2 and 6 yards, respectively, as Elon answered and led 14-13.

When Ross scrambled in from a yard out for the fifth touchdown of the first quarter, Coastal Carolina had gained 225 total yards and was on pace to rack up 900 for the game.

In the second quarter, Quinn went in motion out of the backfield and B.J. Bennett took a direct snap 7 yards for a touchdown that put Elon up 21-19. Bennett (62 rushing yards) suffered an ankle injury later in the first half and didn’t return, a blow to the Elon offense.

Coastal Carolina was back in the end zone 2½ minutes after that Bennett touchdown, with Ross lofting a 20-yard touchdown pass to Niccolo Mastromatteo to retake the lead at 25-21.

“What a wild first half. Everyone was scoring,” Swepson said.

“We just needed more energy coming out of halftime,” Brown said. “We came out flat. We usually start off flat in the first half and click in the second half.”

■ EXTRA POINTS: … A high snap ruined the point-after kick following Coastal Carolina’s second touchdown and the Chanticleers spent parts of the first half scrambling to recoup that lost point. They attempted two-point conversions that failed after their next two touchdowns. … Brown, the Elon slot receiver, made the most of his two carries out of the backfield. He raced 55 yards on Elon’s first snap of the game and gained 37 yards on another handoff. Brown stayed in at halftime due to cramping and received IV fluids. He missed Elon’s first two possessions of the second half before returning. … Elon finished with 231 rushing yards, a week after supplying 193 yards on the ground against Appalachian State. Those mark Elon’s most productive back-to-back rushing performances since September 2008. … Meanwhile, Quinn went 15 of 27 passing for 94 yards. That’s the lowest passing total for an Elon starting quarterback since November 2005. … Duprey’s touchdown reception that gave Elon a 28-25 lead marked the first catch of his college career. He’s a sophomore. … Swepson said Taliaferro, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Coastal Carolina running back, reminded him of Andre Brown, the former North Carolina State standout who plays for the New York Giants. “Just a man-child out there playing against boys,” Swepson said. … Elon’s field goal misery worsened. Trailing 39-28 late in the third quarter, true freshman John Gallagher missed from 34 yards. Elon is 1-for-8 on field goals this season. … Ross, the Coastal Carolina quarterback, added 85 rushing yards and mostly scrambled out of trouble. … This was Elon’s last non-league game of the season. The Phoenix’s final seven games are Southern Conference matchups.